Oscar Review: Phantom Thread (2017)

* spoilers *

Eccentric fashion designer Reynolds Woodcock goes through phases of being enamored and inspired by a woman followed by being annoyed with the realities of a relationship and compromise that cycles over and over. Then he meets Alma a waitress, and they have a whirlwind romance and a marriage. When she moves in, the harsh reality of his controlling nature crashes down on her when she doesn't quite fit into his peculiar habits and well worn routines. It seems only a matter of time until he leaves Alma as they fight more and more.

I didn't know what to expect with Phantom Thread, but I enjoyed it more than I thought. Daniel Day Lewis plays Woodcock to an extreme level, imbuing him with manic energy and temper tantrums. The character is pretty awful, completely unable to change his routines at all. He uses women as inspiration and then drops them when they aren't the silent, compliant mannequins he wants. It's honestly hard to watch him with Alma because he doesn't hesitate to scream at her for the smallest perceived infraction. It's grossly accurate that he gets a pass on his behavior because of his success and brilliance as a fashion designer.

His sister Cyril is by far the most amazing character. She runs her brother's house and business so he can focus on the artistic side, but her role is a partner rather than an underling. She keeps his routines and habits because it's how he is most productive, which is good for the company. You might think that she's as cowed as everyone else, but that would be wrong. Whenever he becomes deluded, she is quick to verbally cut through him and it's clear that she would win any sort of battle of wits. Everything she says is always polite on the surface no matter what biting insult lies beneath. Her iron will, sarcasm, and sass are amazing and she grounds the film with her sensible nature.

Alma is an unexpected character. She started out as rather wide eyed and idealistic, but then refuses to be cowed by Woodcock's demands, throwing his schedule in disarray and leaving him lost. As he loses more and more interest in her, she continues to blaze her own trail and leave him behind if necessary. When he's at the breaking point, she poisons his tea with mushrooms and nurses him back to health, essentially resetting their relationship back to the honeymoonstage. After the second time she does this, she tells him about it and he accepts that this is simply another routine that must be done. For a normie movie, that's a pretty odd detail. I like that Alma didn't lose herself in him and Woodcock learned to compromise in his own bizarre way. My only criticism is that the film meandered near the end and felt about a half hour too long. Other than that, eveything from the aesthetics to the score to the acting were very well done.

My rating: 4/5 fishmuffins

Oscar Reviews: Lady Bird (2017)

Christine "Lady Bird" McPherson goes to a Catholic school in Sacramento and hates just about everything about her life. She longs to go to school on the east coast, but her poor family can't afford to send her there. The film follows her as she figures out who she is and gets through her last year of high school as she finds and loses love, inspiration, and friends.

I found Lady Bird to be an incredibly annoying teenager. She didn't care about anyone but herself and continually hurt people along the way to "finding herself." I was completely with her when she joined drama and found passion acting. I felt for her when her boyfriend turned out to be gay and he broked down thinking of how to come out to his family. I also loved the moments with her best friend Julie while they vandalized a nuns car, ate communion wafers while talking about masturbation, and their fun time at the prom. Those moments were amazing along with the performances all around.

For every one of those moments, there's a moment of her being awful. Her awesome friends are pushed to the side when she lies to be in the popular, rich crowd. The most annoying thing about her is the college issue. She wants to go to the east coast only to get away from Sacramento. Her parents are barely financially hanging on and she convinces her dad to pay for this frivolous endeavor. I understand having flawed characters and coming of age films, but manipulating everyone around for your own selfish reasons doesn't make you a sympathetic character.

The writing didn't reach me for much of the film, especially regarding Lady Bird's mom. Her character came off as unrealistically mean. She literally couldn't say one nice thing to her daughter without some rude or backhanded comment right afterwards. The big blowouts are expected and they happen with cruel comments that you wish you could take back. However, she seems completely unable to be nice. I can think of two moments, one where she described being in awe of Sacramento while driving and at the end of the film when she ran into the airport to see Lady Bird off to college too late and cried, that are tiny glimpses of the real person underneath.

Lady Bird is an incredibly well acted film, but frankly not very well written. I didn't find Lady Bird to be sympathetic through most of the film and her mother especially was not a nuanced character at all. Ronan is a wonderful actress, but simply too old for the role. The film takes place around the time I went to high school and I didn't feel the time period at all. The ending shows that Lady Bird didn't really learn anything and continues her antics on the east coast on her parents' dime. This coming of age story didn't resonate with me overall and it's hard to ignore the criticism that Gerwig stole scenes from Real Women Have Curves and whitewashed it for her film.

My rating: 3/5 fishmuffins